Biography

Delmar Allen Hawkins, 22 August 1936, Goldmine, Louisiana, USA. Born into a musical family where his father Delmar, and later. his younger brother Jerry were both musicians. The latter recorded three unsuccessful singles. Dale Hawkins was one of the earliest exponents of rockabilly, and this underrated singer-guitarist was discovered in 1955 by Shreveport record distributor Stan Lewis and signed by the Chicago-based Chess Records label. Among his earliest singles was the Bobby Charles composition See You Soon Baboon, an answer record to Bill Haleys See You Later Alligator (which was also written by Charles), but Hawkins biggest hit was the excellent Howlin Wolf -influenced Suzie-Q, with Roy Buchanan on lead guitar. It reached the US Top 30 in 1957 and was later covered by numerous artists, including the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival, for whom the song was a Top 20 hit in...